OTHER LIVES Music Review - An Undisovered Gem
I really cannot wax lyrical enough as to how good these guys are and I urge you to get out there and see this undiscovered gem before they become too big for such small intimate venues.
There have been two instances recently where, whilst listening to BBC Radio 6 music, Ive been compelled to drop whatever it was that I was doing and just listen. What was really exciting for me was when I discovered that both songs that had grabbed my attention were by the same band and I knew in that moment that I had stumbled upon something very special indeed. The said band is called Other Lives and they come from Stillwater, Oklahoma in the US and on Thursday 18th August, at the Lexington in Islington, London, they made one of their first UK appearances and it was not something that I was prepared to miss. What became instantly clear, and ensures that the band stand out from their rivals in the currently over-saturated music market, is that their music is hard to pigeon-hole, at times even sounding like the beautiful, yet illicit, lovechild of Arcade Fire and The National. This is perhaps largely due to the array of instruments (ranging from the standard to the unconventional) at their disposal that gives their blend of emotive, dreamy indie-rock its distinctiveness. The band made the most of the small cramped stage that they were too big for (both physically and no doubt soon to be in stature) and though it left them little room to move about, lead singer Jesse Tabish gets extra kudos for his interaction with the audience, coming across as being a very humble and genuine fellow. The stand out songs of the night were Tamer Animals, For 12 (both surely destined to end up on the soundtrack of an indie flick sooner or later) and a cracking cover of Leonard Cohens The Partisan, which the band made their own and had the audience looking on mesmerised. Other Lives are currently touring the UK and there are still some tickets available for another London gig on 30th August. I really cannot wax lyrical enough as to how good these guys are and I urge you to get out there and see this undiscovered gem before they become too big for such small intimate venues. For a taster of what to expect, check out the video their song For 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWMqgeIDJs8